Large hybrid energy project takes off near Pernik

A new large hybrid energy project, consisting of a photovoltaic plant and a battery energy storage station, has opened in Bulgaria. We are talking about Solaris Park in Pernik, which includes solar panels with a capacity of 32 MWp and an electricity storage facility with a capacity of 61 MWh.

The energy project was built on an old industrial waste dump belonging to a local steel company. There are now 30 BESS containers and 56,889 solar panels. The plant connection has a voltage of 20 kV. The operation of the plant will save 16 thousand tons of carbon emissions per year.

The Pernik solar power plant can supply 10,200 households with energy (at an average annual consumption per household of 3,272 MWh).

The main project investor is Solaris Holding - a joint venture between the Bulgarian-German Sunotec and the main shareholders in Eurohold Bulgaria.

The value of the investment is about 37 million euros, as Kaloyan Velichkov, executive director of Sunotec, told Economic.bg. It is financed by DSK Bank and the German Varengold. The payback period of the investment in the solar components of the project should be 15 years, and for the battery, that term should be 7-9 years.

Electrohold Trade will be responsible for the distribution of the electricity produced by this energy project.

The plant does not yet have a signed PPA contract. The battery station will also be used for balancing services to the ESO, as well as for optimizing the balances of the photovoltaic plant.

Although the Battery Funding Recovery Plan scheme is already taking off, the project investors have decided they won’t wait for the measure.

In the energy business, every lost day has a negative impact in the future,” said Kiril Boshov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eurohold.

This is the first, and certainly, it will not be the last project of the Solaris Holding joint venture. By the end of the year, a similar hybrid energy project will be launched in Ihtiman.

"Investing in this type of project is part of the Eurohold group's strategy to enter the manufacturing sector. This will allow us to better close the natural supply chain - from manufacturing through electricity transmission, wholesale trade and delivery to the end customer," said Vladimir Dichev, Chief Commercial Director of Electrohold Bulgaria, at the opening ceremony of the Pernik solar power plant.

He added that this project significantly increases the size of the power-generating capacity of the Electrohold portfolio.

Such projects allow the company to offer its customers green energy at a fixed price for long periods", commented Dichev.

The importance of the energy project for Pernik was highlighted by its mayor, Stanislav Vladimirov. According to him, such facilities attract investors, so the local government has the ambition to build a large industrial zone near the solar park.